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Seanchan posted...

I've no idea what Elastica is. I've said this before but I sure wish more people would give some background/insight on their nominations...

(speaking as not the nominator but at least someone familiar)

All three choices this week are 90s alt-rock bands fronted by women - a clear consistent theme where, in my opinion, the strongest album is by the least known group.

I'm not quite sure how to sell one against the other - I think the big difference being Elastica is frenetic whereas, if memory serves, the other two are moodier. Elastica is a full 10 minutes shorter than the other two, running through 16 songs in 38 minutes.

Also, I'm devastated to be the only vote for Elastica - not that the others aren't worthy but Elastica is the definition of an overlooked gem.

I'm curious where "Easy" will land. It feels like the definitive big single that (in this case, very intentionally) goes against the band's usual style.

It will all depend on the frequency - for me, the ideal would be adding two or preferably three AM weeks and also treating my own like another. Then, about every 6-8 weeks, we could get one guaranteed "major" album. I would probably cycle between decades - so, the top 3 albums of the 60s we have yet to cover, then the 70s, and so on. This would turn a 21 week cycle into a 24 week cycle, which I don't think is too big of an increase, and I think it would relieve a certain pressure from the nomination process as people weigh the familiar against their own niche.

As a preview, here is how those decade polls would currently look (still following the one per artist rule, skipping already covered albums):

60s:
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The Beatles - Revolver
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

70s:
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
The Clash - London Calling
The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.

80s:
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Michael Jackson - Thriller
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead

90s:
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
Beck - Odelay

00s:
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Radiohead - Kid A
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

10s:
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
David Bowie - Blackstar

Seanchan posted...

Here's something crazy. Aside from The Beatles (and Radiohead because of this project), I'm pretty certain I've not heard any full, non-compilation albums from those artists! Plenty of singles, yes, but nothing other than that.

It's something I think was lost in our transition from group nominations to individual nominations. Since people know one of their choices have to make it through, they don't have a reason to try and nominate something others will recognize. I had considered having something like an AM week every five topics or so - where the choice is determined by the Acclaimed Music list instead of our personal nominations. But it feels too late to introduce something like that now.

Seanchan posted...

Of course, now I wonder about the results just for the bands we've covered! We've got the results for 2 above, but it's probably not possible to know for a chunk of them as they're probably not on a top 2500 list or whatever. Also, HOW HAVE WE ONLY COVERED 2 OF THOSE TOP 10 ARTISTS!?!

Let's see a few

Gorillaz:
Demon Days - Feel Good, Inc. (#2)
vs.
Gorillaz (#3) - Clint Eastwood

Weezer:
The Blue Album - Buddy Holly

Nirvana:
Nevermind - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Phoenix:
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - 1901

Kanye West:
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Runaway

Mastodon:
Leviathan - Blood & Thunder

Fleetwood Mac:
Rumours - Go Your Own Way

U2:
The Joshua Tree - With or Without You (#3)
vs.
Achtung Baby (#2) - One

Alice in Chains:
Dirt - Would?

...well then. Really, I think a big difference here is era? Which is to say, artists like The Beatles and David Bowie and Bob Dylan were putting out new records pretty much every year. This slows down over time, so a lot of these groups only have a handful of albums, so it's more likely the two match. This is especially true for groups like Nirvana and Alice in Chains, who really didn't have much time after their breakthrough to build upon it.

Seanchan posted...

My assumption is usually that the album with the big single will be the one with the most acclaim just due to higher listener-ship. For our ranking project, I think having that touchstone usually helps with bands I'm less familiar with, even if it also skews the results towards that track. In the end it's of no big consequence, and if Angel Dust is a better representation of Faith No More at its best then I'm glad we've covered it.

I was actually curious to see how much this holds up, as far as critical acclaim. I checked the top 10 artists on Acclaimed Music. The first album is their most acclaimed followed by the most acclaimed song off that album, with the second album being the one to contain their most acclaimed song.

The Beatles
Revolver - Tomorrow Never Knows (#6)
vs.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (#2) - A Day in the Life

Bob Dylan:
Blonde on Blonde - Visions of Johanna (#6)
vs.
Highway 61 Revisited (#2) - Like a Rolling Stone

The Rolling Stones:
Exile on Main Street - Tumbling Dice (#8)
vs.
Out of Our Heads (#10) - I Can't Get No Satisfaction

David Bowie:
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - Ziggy Stardust (#5)
vs.
Heroes (#5) - Heroes

Bruce Springsteen:
Born to Run - Born to Run

Radiohead:
OK Computer - Paranoid Android

Neil Young:
After the Gold Rush - After the Gold Rush (#6)
vs.
Harvest (#2) - Heart of Gold

Led Zeppelin:
IV - Stairway to Heaven

Prince:
Sign O the Times - Sign O the Times (#5)
vs.
Purple Rain (#2) - When Doves Cry

The Beach Boys:
Pet Sounds - God Only Knows (#2)
vs.
Good Vibrations...had a complicated release

Just from these top 10 artists, only 3 have their 'biggest song' on their 'biggest album.' Even more have a most acclaimed album with the best song not even being ranked within their top 5. I feel like this consolidates more as we get into less acclaimed acts (who maybe only have one or two big albums), but I think there are plenty of bands who have a big early single and then make a more cohesive follow-up.

Until recently, Radiohead would have been the perfect example of this - "Creep" is still their most popular song by far (and was only recently overtaken by Paranoid Android on AM), but most people agree Pablo Honey is their worst album by a notable margin.

Seanchan posted...

Afterward, I had to know what their most popular song was on Spotify, which was Easy. Recognized that song in about 3 notes and was like "oooooooh THIIIIS song!" I'll ask the question then, why Angel Dust over the previous album with that big single, The Real Thing?

I'm assuming you meant to say "Epic" here. From what I can tell, both of these albums are similarly regarded by critics, and Angel Dust is much higher on Rate Your Music. I'm not the biggest Faith No More fan, but I think it's fair to say a more consistent album (if Angel Dust is regarded as such - I haven't heard either in several years) is stronger than one with a big hit.

Bump

Appetite for Destruction track ranking

12. You're Crazy (Track #10)
Score: 35 (Average Rank: 10.67/12)
Biggest Fan(s): MZero, Seanchan (#8)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper, Axl_Rose_85, Raetsel_Lapin, darkx (#12)

plasmabeam: Overshadowed by the GN'R Lies version. Still a great high-energy song.

11. Anything Goes (Track #11)
Score: 40 (Average Rank: 10.47/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): plasmabeam, CasanovaZelos, igordebraga, MZero, VeryInsane, ZeroSignal, HBJDubs, Seanchan (#12)

plasmabeam: The closest thing to filler on Appetite. They should've gone with the Hollywood Rose version, which has a little more meat to it. I never liked that the Appetite version had like two verses and a never-ending chorus to close out the song.

BlueCrystalTear: I happen to find this one a high-energy singalong. Haven't heard that other version though.

Raetsel_Lapin: I really quite like the instrumental portion of this song. It's brief and I can't point to a reason that I enjoy it so much, but I find it to be the definitive highlight of the album--if not one of the highlights of the entire series. I definitely get the arguments about the lyrics being too repetitive, but I think they're catchy and fun enough to avoid becoming actively annoying & I'm really just here for the solo anyway.

10. Out Ta Get Me (Track #4)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 8.67/12)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, HBJDubs (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#12)

plasmabeam: Favorite lyric on the entire album: "Sometimes it's easy to forget where you're going / sometimes it's harder to leave."

9. Think About You (Track #8)
Score: 68 (Average Rank: 8.6/12)
Biggest Fan(s): MZero (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): BlueCrystalTear, firefdr (#12)

plasmabeam: Grossly underrated. I'll never understand why this one never got more radio play. It's catchy with great guitar work. The outro is chilling and probably my favorite part.

8. My Michelle (Track #7)
Score: 82 (Average Rank: 7.73/12)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#11)

plasmabeam: The main riff might be my favorite from any GN'R song. Or from any song, period.

neonreaper: Always loved the riff. Love the intro. f'ing classic lyrics imo.

7. It's So Easy (Track #2)
Score: 108 (Average Rank: 6.27/12)
Biggest Fan(s): firefdr (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#11)

plasmabeam: That bass intro! This song is raw and nasty, and the infamous "Why don't you just...fuck off!" lyric always gives me the urge to thrust my middle finger in the air.

6. Nightrain (Track #3)
Score: 116 (Average Rank: 5.6/12)
Biggest Fan(s): plasmabeam, firefdr (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): ChichiriMuyo (#11)

plasmabeam: Wild and endlessly fun. I don't drink, but this song helps me understand why so many people do.

5. Mr. Brownstone (Track #5)
Score: 118 (Average Rank: 5.27/12)
Biggest Fan(s): CasanovaZelos, ZeroSignal (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): igordebraga, Raetsel_Lapin (#8)

plasmabeam: Catchy as hell, and I love how this and "It's So Easy" balance out the album's energy.

4. Paradise City (Track #6)
Score: 138 (Average Rank: 4.47/12)
Biggest Fan(s): VeryInsane (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MZero (#10)

plasmabeam: An absolute stomper. From the moment the whistle blows, this one is outta control. Kinda wish they had trimmed it down a bit (the chorus repeats too much), but overall it's a classic.

Raetsel_Lapin: A song that I wish ended after the third verse, instead of going with another chorus & pointlessly extended outro. I like the song up until that point... once it speeds up and decides to go as hard as it can, I lose all interest. This made the song rather impossible to rank properly... I could argue the high points are strong enough to move the song into fourth place & just as easily argue that having parts I hate should drag it down towards the bottom of the list. Ultimately, the song just kinda wound up near the middle of the list which is simultaneously "very appropriate for a song with both very high and low points" and "a completely unsatisfying response".

3. Rocket Queen (Track #12)
Score: 150 (Average Rank: 4.2/12)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper, Axl_Rose_85, Raetsel_Lapin, MZero (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): darkx (#8)

plasmabeam: Absolutely sleazy bass intro. Love the way this song gets charged up before ending bittersweetly. Perfect way to close out the album.

neonreaper: I love this song. I love the textures of the guitars in the verses, the grooves, and the ending just breaks into a sappy ballad that just works. This is what an honest love song sounds like.

Axl_Rose_85: Infact this song is just behind November Rain and Estranged in my favorite songs of all time list

2. Sweet Child O' Mine (Track #9)
Score: 174 (Average Rank: 3.27/12)
Biggest Fan(s): CasanovaZelos, BlueCrystalTear, HBJDubs, Seanchan, darkx (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): plasmabeam (#8)

plasmabeam: I'm not big on love songs, but The Solo and the "Where do we go now?" outro are excellent.

neonreaper: Another 10/10 classic.

1. Welcome to the Jungle (Track #1)
Score: 181 (Average Rank: 2.8/12)
Biggest Fan(s): plasmabeam, igordebraga, ZeroSignal, ChichiriMuyo (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): firefdr (#7)

plasmabeam: Overplayed to hell and back, sure. But the first time I really heard this song during a commercial for GTA San Andreas, it ripped my 14-year-old brain apart and changed my life. Slash's intro, Axl's intensity, the sheer electricity this track carries...it's a miracle this thing exists.

neonreaper: Maybe the best side one song one from that era. It's a great song, a popular song, a perfect intro to an album.

Raetsel_Lapin: I wasn't looking forward to ranking this song. It's ludicrously overplayed and not a style of hard rock that I find appealing, so I'll often change the station the second it begins playing. I actually had it in next-to-last place in the initial draft of my rankings because my starting opinion was pretty close to actively hating the song. But upon further reflection, you know, I actually rather enjoy the third verse and the bridge/solo/segue that follow it... enough so that I started actively looking forward to hearing the song on subsequent relistens of the album. Probably the song that's had the largest increase from how I felt about it initially to where it eventually placed.

Guns n Roses - Appetite for Destruction results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Axl_Rose_85 (14)
neonreaper (16)
VeryInsane (18)
ChichiriMuyo (18)
darkx (18)
CasanovaZelos (20)
ZeroSignal (20)
Seanchan (20)
BlueCrystalTear (22)
HBJDubs (22)
plasmabeam (24)
igordebraga (24)
firefdr (26)
MZero (32)
Raetsel_Lapin (36)

General Album Comments

plasmabeam: My favorite album of all-time. With an exception of "Anything Goes," every song is an absolute banger.

CasanovaZelos: Of the several 80s hard rock albums I know, this feels like an obvious best - the problem being, I don't particularly like hard rock. I can't deny the talent on display, but it's also very much not my thing.

BlueCrystalTear: Upon relisten, there are definitely a few songs on here that reek of redundancy; it may have been better if they'd cut one of them out. Still, Slash and Izzy still rock the SHIT out of this, and their guitar work is what carries it the most.

neonreaper: I listened to this album so much back in the day. Nothing really weak here - even the album fillers get stuck in your head and have plenty of brilliant little elements imo.

igordebraga: Great album, I usually only skip Sweet Child because it's overplayed and I'm less sentimental each day.

Mzero: They all rock though. Not a single dud

HBJDubs: Very solid and consistent album, every song is either a 7 or 8/10, and they each have at least one part that makes it stick out so nothing feels lost in the shuffle.

Seanchan: Just an absolute banger of an album. Yes, the classic rock station staples are a little overplayed but the reason is that they're really fucking good! Whenever I hear that intro to Sweet Child O' Mine I know I'm going to find a reason to sit there until it's done. You don't change the station past Welcome to the Jungle. Paradise City makes me want to smash through billboards and "race west to the Wind Farm". Then you've got a whole next tier of songs that could be (were?) hit singles that get overshadowed like Nightrain, Mr. Brownstone, My Michelle, and Rocket Queen. And then the "bottom" tier which are all still pretty solid.

ChichiriMuyo: Why listen to Appetite For Destruction, Thor Love and Thunder is out now. Seriously, there are at least four GNR songs in it, including my top three from this album. Maybe it's because I'm not a big fan of the band, but Thor L+T alone gives me basically everything I'd want to hear from GNR.

darkx: Not even a little bit easy. Every track on here is a fucking banger.

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, July 17 at 8:00 AM EST - though if you are for whatever reason listening to the album around that time, just say so in the topic and I can delay a bit
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).

Faith No More - Angel Dust track list:
1. Land of Sunshine
2. Caffeine
3. Midlife Crisis
4. RV
5. Smaller and Smaller
6. Everything's Ruined
7. Malpractice
8. Kindergarten
9. Be Aggressive
10. A Small Victory
11. Crack Hitler
12. Jizzlobber
13. Midnight Cowboy
14. Easy*
* Easy was not part of the original track list, but has been featured on releases since the following year

User Cycle:
7/17: Great_Paul (Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold)
7/24: jcgamer107 (Jack White - Fear of the Dawn)
7/31: ChichiriMuyo
8/7: BlueCrystalTear
8/14: MetalmindStats
8/21: HBJDubs
8/28: Raetsel_Lapin
9/4: TheArkOfTurus
9/11: Steiner
9/18: Snake5555555555
9/25: Jesse_Custer
10/2: ZaziGuado
10/9: firefdr
10/16: Johnbobb
10/23: VeryInsane
10/30: CasanovaZelos
11/6: Seanchan
11/13: Giggsalot
11/20: RyoCaliente
11/27: darkx
12/4: neonreaper

Last day

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Pokemon

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Giggsalot originally had Portishead's debut as a nomination until I pointed out how close it would have been to Third - that one could have been fun to do back-to-back, just because it's an entirely different sound.

Just compare these to something like Machine Gun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ylDDs3mdJE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un8EW82GwKc

Of the several 80s hard rock albums I know, this feels like an obvious best - the problem being, I don't particularly like hard rock. I can't deny the talent on display, but it's also very much not my thing.

My ranking:
Sweet Child O' Mine (#2691 all-time)
Welcome to the Jungle
Mr. Brownstone
Paradise City
It's So Easy
Rocket Queen
Out Ta Get Me
Nightrain
My Michelle
You're Crazy
Think About You
Anything Goes

There was a question of outliers in the previous topic - I decided to check what would have happened if we removed Raetsel's list, because I think it's informative:

1. Seven Nation Army (change: 0)
2. Ball and Biscuit (0)
3. Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine (0)
4. The Hardest Button to Button (0)
5. Black Math (0)
6. There's No Home for You Here (up 1)
7. In the Cold, Cold Night (down 1)
8. I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself (0)
9. Hypnotize (0)
10. The Air Near My Fingers (up 1)
11. Little Acorns (up 1)
12. Well It's True That We Love One Another (down 2)
13. You've Got Her in Your Pocket (0)
14. I Want to Be The Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart (0)

As you can see, the changes are rather minimal, and all of them involve songs that Raetsel had in relatively close positions to each other - the only other notable element I noticed is Raetsel's vote almost but not quite pushing Girl You Have No Faith in Medicine over Ball and Biscuit. Essentially, the fact that Raetsel's overall list looks like an exact opposite of everyone else's means that she is largely ranking the same clusters of songs relative to one another. The overall averages end up closer together, but that doesn't mean much.

Elephant track ranking

14. I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart (Track #6)
Score: 29 (Average Rank: 12.36/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#10)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, VeryInsane (#14)

jcgamer107: Decent piano

BlueCrystalTear: Forgot all but the title two songs later

13. You've Got Her in Your Pocket (Track #7)
Score: 48 (Average Rank: 10.73/14)
Biggest Fan(s): BlueCrystalTear (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): RyoCaliente, neonreaper, MetalmindStats (#14)

jcgamer107: Watched Jack perform this and get kind of emotional - the lyrics hit for sure

BlueCrystalTear: I can feel what Jack's feeling through his voice.

12. Little Acorns (Track #10)
Score: 62 (Average Rank: 9.36/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, jcgamer107, Johnbobb (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): BlueCrystalTear, Seanchan (#14)

jcgamer107: Love the piano that comes in under Mort Crim's reading. Classic weird Jack White vocals.

BlueCrystalTear: That sound clip makes me think I'm listening to an advertisement, not music. The addition doesn't work for me... and something had to be last on an album I enjoyed.

11. The Air Near My Fingers (Track #12)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 9.09/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper (#13) jcgamer107: Cool synth riff

10. Well It's True That We Love One Another (Track #14)
Score: 69 (Average Rank: 9.18/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, jcgamer107 (#14)

Raetsel_Lapin: An homage to The Mama's and The Papa's 60's folk music. I don't know that I've mentioned it in this series, but I was raised on an oldies station that focused on the 50's and 60's, so I actually have a lot of nostalgia for songs that are done in this style. It's also wonderfully charming and I had a smile on my face the entire time. It's still not a song that I really love, but it's a jolly good time and a throwback to an era of music that doesn't see much play these days.

jcgamer107: I don't hate this, but it feels out of place and isn't really as charming as they probably thought it would be when making it. I also still don't really know who Holly Golightly is (aside from Audrey Hepburn's character in Breakfast at Tiffany's).

BlueCrystalTear: I found this wholesome the first time (ranked it #5 on first listen), alright the second, and a bit weird on the third. It's good when you don't expect it and then doesn't work on repeated listens. Especially realizing that Holly is an NPC.

MetalmindStats: Perhaps this shouldn't work at all, especially as the closer, yet it totally works for me, especially as the closer.

9. Hypnotize (Track #11)
Score: 78 (Average Rank: 8/14)
Biggest Fan(s): RyoCaliente (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): CasanovaZelos (#14)

jcgamer107: A fun, catchy little jam. Very danceable.

8. I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself (Track #4)
Score: 84 (Average Rank: 7.36/14)
Biggest Fan(s): CasanovaZelos (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, BlueCrystalTear (#11)

jcgamer107: White Stripes covers of classic songs are pretty much always good

BlueCrystalTear: It's a breakup song, not being confused about life, so not feeling it right now. The guitar can be a little much for what the song is going for thematically.

7. There's No Home for You Here (Track #3)
Score: 97 (Average Rank: 6.64/14)
Biggest Fan(s): RyoCaliente, MetalmindStats (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): VeryInsane (#13)

Raetsel_Lapin: I think I like this song, but I'd like to listen to it a few more times on different weeks before committing to that statement. While it seems like something I should dislike on paper--the chorus is certainly the definition of the repetition I condemn at every possible opportunity--but I actually find this rather pleasing. The snarky bitterness of the lyrics is something I find incredibly appealing right now.

jcgamer107: Epic use of the octave pedal once again. You know sometimes I think the character singing may be in the wrong here....

6. In the Cold, Cold Night (Track #5)
Score: 98 (Average Rank: 6.64/14)
Biggest Fan(s): MetalmindStats (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): jcgamer107 (#13)

Raetsel_Lapin: This album could use more Meg White to be quite honest. ...Honestly, most albums would probably benefit from her appearance. Don't have a lot to say here; I like the way her voice sounds and I dig the general feel of this track. It's one of those "I like this and have no desire to elaborate any further" songs.

jcgamer107: It's cool that Meg gets to sing now and again. It's also cool that she doesn't sing *too* often >_>

Johnbobb: Meg needs to get more chances to vocalize

BlueCrystalTear: Meg's voice is a welcome a change of pace - her + the simple melody make this a standout.

MetalmindStats: I love that incessantly lurking organ, which paints a persistent picture in concert with Meg's limited yet effective vocals and the occasional guitar (I think) contribution.

5. Black Math (Track #2)
Score: 109 (Average Rank: 5.91/14)
Biggest Fan(s): jcgamer107 (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#11)

jcgamer107: The sick-nastiest chugging opening guitar riff, with a phat tempo change at the bridge and a solo that comes at you like a bat out of hell. I'm glad Jack is self-aware about which of his songs are the most bad-ass - he's played this almost every time I've seen him live.

BlueCrystalTear: Love the guitar, but I'm not sure what to make of this song. It grew on me with each listen despite feeling caught between the 60s and the 00s.

4. The Hardest Button to Button (Track #9)
Score: 111 (Average Rank: 5.55/14)
Biggest Fan(s): CasanovaZelos, HBJDubs, Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#14)

jcgamer107: One of the coolest music videos ever. My old band covered this at a Detroit show ten years ago and it was the most fun.

BlueCrystalTear: I can get Raetsel's "This song's just six words long" complaint. But the beat is killer, and the repetition is only at the end. It's a banger with no meaningful purpose other than being a banger. And that's why it's fun for me.

3. Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine (Track #13)
Score: 123 (Average Rank: 4.64/14)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper (#8)

jcgamer107: A hidden gem toward the end of the album - I swear I forget it's even on there half the time I listen to it through in order, but it's such a good jam. The bit near the end when Jack just leaves dead air where the last line of the verse should be cracks me up.

2. Ball and Biscuit (Track #8)
Score: 124 (Average Rank: 5.27/14)
Biggest Fan(s): RyoCaliente, VeryInsane, neonreaper (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#13)

jcgamer107: It's quite possible that this is my 3rd-favorite track, but it's a fact that (irl) Jack White is a 7th son

BlueCrystalTear: Epic. Just epic. I don't think it feels too long, but that's me after three listens.

1. Seven Nation Army (Track #1)
Score: 135 (Average Rank: 4.27/14)
Biggest Fan(s): CasanovaZelos, HBJDubs, BlueCrystalTear, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#12)

jcgamer107: A fine song that will be chanted at sporting events until the end of time

Johnbobb: Seven Nation Army is a great song. It is also by far White Stripes' most overrated song

BlueCrystalTear: I mean, it's iconic for a reason. The killer riff. The general unease.

The White Stripes - Elephant results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
neonreaper (22)
BlueCrystalTear (26)
VeryInsane (28)
CasanovaZelos (30)
Seanchan (30)
HBJDubs (36)
Johnbobb (38)
RyoCaliente (40)
jcgamer107 (42)
MetalmindStats (56)
Raetsel_Lapin (84)

General Album Comments

CasanovaZelos: Not usually the biggest fan of guitar rock, but Jack White is just that outstanding to have me regularly return to this album. "Seven Nation Army" is the obvious standout, but half of these could have been hit singles.

RyoCaliente: Maybe I do like Icky Thump better

Raetsel_Lapin: If an album has at least two songs that I would rank a 6/10, then I consider it to have been worth my time. That's the level where I'm willing to say I liked a song without additional caveats and if I geniunely liked at least two tracks, then I got something positive out of the experience. "Elephant" more than passes this test with three songs I think I'd say I liked, but it also has a lot of songs that I just do not care about While there are no songs I hated, I think I'm just not a fan of Jack White in general. I'm not going to take an aggressive "grr, argh, I never want to hear him again" stance (whenever I make a ludicrous claim like that, someone comes along and finds a song from an artist I allegedly hate which I absolutely love, so I've learned my lesson about completely dismissing people), but it's likely not a coincidence that my top two songs from the album include the one song performed by Meg & the one song done in a completely different style

While I dislike most of the album, it is notable that it does include at least some songs that are different enough experiences that I can say it's worth giving a listen even if you're not a fan in general, as it might offer a few surprises. It's also an oddly easy ranking; while I can't say it's an overwhelmingly diverse set of tracks, I find they all left a distinct enough impression that they were easy to score without falling into the "these songs are all so similar in quality that they're hard to rank" trap several other albums fall into.

VeryInsane: Personally prefer most of the other white stripes albums but this one isnt bad.

Seanchan: I came into this week expecting I'd really like this album, which kinda made no sense because I never dove into The White Stripes back during their peak. After 3 listens, it confirmed that I was right not to have gotten into them. I think the biggest thing is that I'm just not a big fan of Jack's vocals. That isn't to say this is a bad album, just that it's not really for me. This one is squarely not the realm of "I'd listen to my top few songs again but not the full album".

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, July 10 at 8:00 AM EST - though if you are for whatever reason listening to the album around that time, just say so in the topic and I can delay a bit
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).

Guns n Roses - Appetite for Destruction track list:
1. Welcome to the Jungle
2. It's So Easy
3. Nightrain
4. Out Ta Get Me
5. Mr. Brownstone
6. Paradise City
7. My Michelle
8. Think About You
9. Sweet Child O' Mine
10. You're Crazy
11. Anything Goes
12. Rocket Queen

User Cycle:
7/10: neonreaper (Faith No More - Angel Dust)
7/17: Great_Paul (Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold)
7/24: jcgamer107
7/31: ChichiriMuyo
8/7: BlueCrystalTear
8/14: MetalmindStats
8/21: HBJDubs
8/28: Raetsel_Lapin
9/4: TheArkOfTurus
9/11: Steiner
9/18: Snake5555555555
9/25: Jesse_Custer
10/2: ZaziGuado
10/9: firefdr
10/16: Johnbobb
10/23: VeryInsane
10/30: CasanovaZelos
11/6: Seanchan
11/13: Giggsalot
11/20: RyoCaliente
11/27: darkx

BlueCrystalTear posted...

If you could share the formula, I might be able to do this.... depending on how much more time we're talking.

The thing is, I don't know how to create an excel formula for the win-loss system. I have to count each individual match-up. It would be quicker with most albums because there are less match-ups, but calculating the results now is as simple as plugging all the data into an excel sheet.

Seanchan posted...

1. Seven Nation Army
2. The Hardest Button to Button
3. Ball and Biscuit
4. Hypnotize
5. Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
6. I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself
7. In the Cold, Cold Night
8. Black Math
9. You've Got Her in Your Pocket
10. The Air Near My Fingers
11. There's No Home for You Here
12. Well It's True That We Love One Another
13. I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart
14. Little Acorns
I came into this week expecting I'd really like this album, which kinda made no sense because I never dove into The White Stripes back during their peak. After 3 listens, it confirmed that I was right not to have gotten into them. I think the biggest thing is that I'm just not a big fan of Jack's vocals. That isn't to say this is a bad album, just that it's not really for me. This one is squarely not the realm of "I'd listen to my top few songs again but not the full album".

...is the 'not' in the last sentence supposed to be 'in'?

last day

I have been curious about integrating the win-loss formula I used for the album poll for the weekly polls, which I think does a better job at capturing the consensus regardless of outliers...but it also takes quite a bit more time to calculate

To be clear, Raetsel, I'm happy you have been participating since the beginning. The true purpose of this series is to function as some sort of album club, and the ranking is simply a way of gamifying that to draw more interest here. I wouldn't want to do anything like discount outliers because I don't want to discourage people from participating.

It was simply a perplexed uhh that should not be read into too much. I am familiar with Raetsel's voting habits but this one feels particularly impressive.

(and the solution to balancing out outliers is as simple as more people voting)

I am also going to be away from a computer two weekends from now - would someone be able to start that week's topic? I can calculate the results when I get back but it would be nice to make sure the following topic runs a full week.

uhh

bump

up

bump

Not usually the biggest fan of guitar rock, but Jack White is just that outstanding to have me regularly return to this album. "Seven Nation Army" is the obvious standout, but half of these could have been hit singles.

Seven Nation Army (#124 all-time)
The Hardest Button to Button (#2514)
Ball and Biscuit
I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself
Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
Black Math
In the Cold, Cold Night
You've Got Her in Your Pocket
There's No Home for You Here
The Air Near My Fingers
I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart
Well It's True That We Love One Another
Little Acorns
Hypnotize

Forever Changes track ranking

11. Old Man (Track #5)
Score: 19 (Average Rank: 9.29/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#7)
Biggest Detractor(s): VeryInsane, HBJDubs, Seanchan (#11)

10. Bummer in the Summer (Track #10)
Score: 22 (Average Rank: 8.86/11)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs, Seanchan (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin, neonreaper, Giggsalot (#11)

9. The Daily Planet (Track #4)
Score: 26 (Average Rank: 8.29/11)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): CasanovaZelos (#11)

8. The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This (Track #9)
Score: 28 (Average Rank: 8/11)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Giggsalot (#10)

7. Andmoreagain (Track #3)
Score: 37 (Average Rank: 6.86/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, Seanchan (#10)

6. Live and Let Live (Track #8)
Score: 49 (Average Rank: 5.71/11)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#10)

5. Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale (Track #7)
Score: 51 (Average Rank: 5.29/11)
Biggest Fan(s): VeryInsane, Seanchan (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#9)

4. The Red Telephone (Track #6)
Score: 51 (Average Rank: 5/11)
Biggest Fan(s): VeryInsane, Giggsalot (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#9)

3. A House is Not a Motel (Track #2)
Score: 67 (Average Rank: 3.71/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#9)

2. You Set the Scenes (Track #11)
Score: 69 (Average Rank: 3.14/11)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, Giggsalot, HBJDubs (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper (#5)

1. Alone Again Or (Track #1)
Score: 92 (Average Rank: 1.86/11)
Biggest Fan(s): CasanovaZelos, VeryInsane, neonreaper, Giggsalot, Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#5)

Love - Forever Changes results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
VeryInsane (10)
Giggsalot (10)
CasanovaZelos (14)
neonreaper (16)
Seanchan (20)
Raetsel_Lapin (26)
HBJDubs (30)

General Album Comments

CasanovaZelos: My 16th favorite album of all time, though it also took me years to fully appreciate it. Sort of operates as the antithesis of The Velvet Underground & Nico - both released in the same year to minimal attention only to be elevated to all-time classic status by a later generation. Unlike The Velvet Underground and Nico, Forever Changes is ostensibly accessible - this is the psychedelic sound popular at the time. But it is simultaneously more explorative and subtler than most of its contemporaries. An air of unease pervades much of the record, and the subtle details make this an album unlike any other, even 50+ years later.

Seanchan: Did a first listen to Forever Changes yesterday. Definitely got some of that Beatles vibes from it. But older period Beatles; maybe Sgt. Peppers or White Album era. There was a couple of songs I was just waiting for Lennon or McCartney. Aside from that, it didn't immediately grab me. Definitely going to take some more listens to form an opinion.

BlueCrystalTear: First listen down.

I, uh, just finished the album and I don't even remember it. This basically turned into "forgettable background noise" like a mid-tier bar band, except for the last song. This is gonna take a couple more listens to appreciate.

VeryInsane: Pretty good album, feels like a time capsule of similar 60s psychedelia from the same time period (Doors, Zombies etc)

neonreaper: Good stuff

Giggsalot: oh hey, it's my week! this is for me the pinnacle of the summer of love, the psychedelic movement and 60s guitar rock in general, so i'm very happy to introduce this to people. the arrangements here are incredible, the lyrics are packed with memorable one-liners, and at least half the songs have all-time melody lines too. a few of the minor tracks in the second half make it hard for me to call this flawless, but the album pacing here is so perfect that by the end it's easy to overlook those. absolutely magical stuff.

Seanchan: Actually did 4 listens to this because of the more low-key nature of the music. I agree with a lot of the previous comments. There is a certain forgettable "background noise" quality, but at the same time there's some fun instrumentation and lyrics. I didn't find this too difficult to rank the tracks, though I feel like there's a gap between my top 5 and my bottom 6.

On the album level I'm more torn. I think I'd listen to this again but, from a week of play, I wouldn't say this is a favorite of mine. I've slotted it into a large group of "yeah okay" albums from this cycle.

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, July 3 at 8:00 AM EST - though if you are for whatever reason listening to the album around that time, just say so in the topic and I can delay a bit
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).

The White Stripes - Elephant track list:
1. Seven Nation Army
2. Black Math
3. There's No Home for You Here
4. I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself
5. In the Cold, Cold Night
6. I Want to Be the Boy to Warm Your Mother's Heart
7. You've Got Her in Your Pocket
8. Ball and Biscuit
9. The Hardest Button to Button
10. Little Acorns
11. Hypnotize
12. The Air Near My Fingers
13. Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
14. Well It's True That We Love One Another

User Cycle:
7/3: darkx (Guns n Roses - Appetite for Destruction)
7/10: neonreaper (Faith No More - Angel Dust)
7/17: Great_Paul
7/24: jcgamer107
7/31: ChichiriMuyo
8/7: BlueCrystalTear
8/14: MetalmindStats
8/21: HBJDubs
8/28: Raetsel_Lapin
9/4: TheArkOfTurus
9/11: Steiner
9/18: Snake5555555555
9/25: Jesse_Custer
10/2: ZaziGuado
10/9: firefdr
10/16: Johnbobb
10/23: VeryInsane
10/30: CasanovaZelos
11/6: Seanchan
11/13: Giggsalot
11/20: RyoCaliente

up

bump

Heracross

up

Espeon

Bump

Unrelated to the current week, I wish my nomination week had been just slightly delayed because the most famous track off my favorite album ever suddenly became popular again due to Stranger Things. I've been putting Hounds of Love off because it has two distinct halves that don't necessarily work well with the format, but it would have been nice to tackle it with an unexpected cultural spotlight.

Heracross

I typically describe myself as gay since that seems easiest. I have at certain times in my life considered myself a homoromantic asexual and lean more toward the idea of gray-/demisexuality these days. But, for 90% of people, it's easier to just say I'm gay and that mostly gets the point across. The gray/demi label is mainly helpful when actually seeking partners, since it essentially amounts to a preemptive setting of expectations.

Of course, there's the added confusion of how these terms work as a non-binary person, but I've long accepted I am man-shaped and figure 'gay' is the easiest label.

Bump

I also expected blink-182 to be more in B8's wheelhouse, so I'm not sure what happened there. It's also a band I've rarely heard people discuss in the decades since.

My 16th favorite album of all time, though it also took me years to fully appreciate it. Sort of operates as the antithesis of The Velvet Underground & Nico - both released in the same year to minimal attention only to be elevated to all-time classic status by a later generation. Unlike The Velvet Underground and Nico, Forever Changes is ostensibly accessible - this is the psychedelic sound popular at the time. But it is simultaneously more explorative and subtler than most of its contemporaries. An air of unease pervades much of the record, and the subtle details make this an album unlike any other, even 50+ years later.

My ranking:
Alone Again Or (#17 all-time)
A House is Not a Motel (#370)
You Set the Scene (#1078)
Andmoreagain (#2292)
The Red Telephone
Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale
Live and Let Live
Old Man
The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This
Bummer in the Summer
The Daily Planet